Dublin High School’s Room to Read Club Brings ‘Girl Rising’ Documentary to Dublin

In recent news, President Obama made a statement that the United States will be sending help to Nigeria in order to save over 200 kidnapped Nigerian school girls. On April 14 in the Nigerian village of Chibok, over 200 Nigerian girls were kidnapped from their school dormitories by Nigerian militant Islamic group, Boko Haram. The leader of the group is now determined to sell these innocent girls and force them into marriage, as he does not believe in girls attaining a proper education. It is a horrendous feeling knowing that there are girls worldwide who are unable to attain their inalienable rights towards their occupational desires. Stories alike to this one in Nigeria inspire me to do my best as Dublin High’s Room to Read Club Founder and President, and empower change through education.

Room to Read is a nonprofit organization that promotes worldwide literacy and gender equality regarding education in underdeveloped countries. In its first year as a club at Dublin High School, Room to Read has raised hundreds of dollars in donations and has helped the community through its literacy mentoring program, “Read to Me!”. The literacy mentoring program “Read to Me!” connects high school volunteers t0 children struggling with literacy skills. The goal of “Read to Me!” is to help underprivileged children succeed in school.

The next big project for the Room to Read Club is the community screening of ‘Girl Rising’ on May 21 at Dublin City Hall’s Regional Meeting Room. As President of the Room to Read Club, I wanted to lead an event that the whole community could be a part of and become empowered by. Through research, I came across Girl Rising, a partner organization of Room to Read that promotes girl’s education through a documentary. ‘Girl Rising’ is an Award-winning directed documentary that reveals nine girls’ courageous perseverance through social issues such as gender inequality and human trafficking. The community screening of ‘Girl Rising’ seemed like the perfect way to raise awareness about the social injustices worldwide and inspire others.

The Room to Read Club has worked hard to attain enough funds to cover the cost for the community screening of ‘Girl Rising’ ($350+)  along with free refreshments for guests. During this past January, I presented the Room to Read Club’s call for action at the City of Dublin’s Youth Mini Grant Presentations and was awarded $225. In addition, I presented in front of the Friends of the Dublin Library to raise $200 towards the Community Screening of ‘Girl Rising’. The Room to Read Club has been very fortunate to be supported by the City of Dublin such as the Dublin Library staff and library manager Lee Jouthas. Through awards and funding from Dublin High’s Homecoming Carnival, the Room to Read Club will be hosting a Community Screening of ‘Girl Rising’ [PG-13]  on Wednesday, May 21 at approximately 7 PM in Dublin City Hall’s Regional Meeting Room. Admission is free, and free refreshments will be provided for guests. Donations towards Room to Read will be accepted as well.

I highly encourage community members to attend the Community Screening of ‘Girl Rising’ and enjoy a brilliant documentary. ‘Girl Rising’ will expand one’s perspective on social injustices across the world and empower positive change. It is my hope that the community will become more educated about worldwide problems and realize how lucky we are as Americans to attain inalienable rights. Education can open so many doors and it is through teamwork and inspiration that our community can help those less unfortunate attain the freedoms that we fortunately possess.

For more information regarding the Room to Read Club, literacy mentoring program, or ‘Girl Rising’ Community Screening, please contact me at gaelsforglobaleducation@gmail.com.